Xiangdong Wang

Dr. Wang is a professor of Medicine at Fudan University, visiting professor of Clinical Sciences at Lund University, and adjunct professor of Molecular Biosciences at North Carolina State University. He also serves as the Senior Advisor for Chinese Medical Doctor Association and a Director of National Program of Doctor-Pharmaceutist communication. Dr Wang has been working on roles of gut epithelial barrier function, hepatocyte transplantation, pancreatic epithelial cells, and pulmonary epithelial cells in pathogenesis of inflammation, organ dysfunction and cancer. He served as the principle scientist, global disease advisor, regional medical director and chairman of scientific advisor board for pharmaceutical companies and research organizations. His current research focuses on roles of epithelial cells in development of organ dysfunction and potential interaction between drugs and epithelial cells.

Antonio Esquinas

Dr. Antonio Esquinas is an Intensivist and staff physician of Intensive Care Unit Hospital Morales Meseguer. Murcia. Spain. He is also an Active Member and International Fellow American Association Respiratory Care (AARC) Fellow American Collage Chest Physicians. (ACCP).

His research related with non invasive mechanical ventilation in respiratory care and physiotherapy in critically. His principal research activities are: Noninvasive mechanical ventilation, epithelial and physiology changes during humidification and impact and effect of High frequency chest wall compression in critically patients undergoing mechanical ventilation in airway physiology.

He had promoted research activities as coordinator of some working groups and research activities with Ibero American Working group of Noninvasive mechanical ventilation, epithelial changes during Humidification, and airway techniques for bronquial clearance in critically patients undergoing mechanical ventilation.

James M. Maguire

Dr. Maguire is currently the Senior Scientist/Lecturer for Pall Life Sciences.

He is also the Senior Consultant to the Respiratory Care Department at the Veterans Administration Medical Center/Dartmouth Alliance, in White River Junction Vermont. He is on the Board of Directors for The American Association of Respiratory Care as well as the American College of Chest Physician's Governor for the State of Vermont. Dr. Maguire is on the Editorial Board of Several Medical Journals and reviews for many more. He is a former Consulting Surveyor for the Joint Commission. Dr. Maguire is also on the Board of Advisors for California College of Health Sciences and sits on the International Committee for the AARC. He is currently working on contamination of patients via contaminated hospital water.

Lorraine J. Gudas

Dr. Gudas is Chairman and Revlon Pharmaceutical Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Pharmacology Department at Weill Cornell Medical College. She is a member of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the major organization of scientists doing research in pharmacology. She finished a term as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Cancer Research, the largest organization of cancer researchers in the United States. Dr. Gudas was also the chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders until July, 2007, and is on the external advisory boards of three Cancer Centers: The Vermont Cancer Center, The Lineberger Cancer Center of U.N.C. Chapel Hill, and The University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center. Of note, in 1999, she received the 2nd Annual "Woman in Cancer Research" award from the American Association of Cancer Research. She has had a long-standing research interest in vitamin A and its derivatives and metabolites, a group of compounds called retinoids. She and her laboratory have studied the pharmacology and molecular actions of retinoids with respect to cancer treatment, cancer prevention, and stem cell differentiation.

Wei Wu

Dr. Wu is a professor and oncologist in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at Capital University of Medical Sciences, P.R.China. He used to an assistant professor in the Division of Biomedical Sciences at University of California, Riverside. He also serves as an editorial board member for Journal of Medical Sciences Research and Scientific Journals International.

His studies are to investigate the molecular mechanisms of tumor metastasis. His studies showed that human chorionic gonadotropin β (HCG β) induced tumor migration and invasion, and downregulated tumor metastasis inhibitor, E-cadherin, in human prostate cancer DU145 and PC3 cells. He also works on the signaling pathways of breast cancer and osteosarcoma,etc.

Gary Laverty

Dr. Laverty is an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Delaware. Dr. Laverty studies epithelial transport processes in intestinal and renal tissue, and the endocrine regulation of these systems. Current interests include the regulation of intestinal transport activity by dietary salt intake and aldosterone, and the effects of parathryoid hormone on renal proximal tubule acid-base transport and chloride secretion. A related interest is in the role of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) in controlling and organizing epithelial transporters. A comparative approach is used to investigate many of these systems.

Wolfgang Sadee

Wolfgang Sadée is Felts Mercer Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, Chair, Department of Pharmacology, and Director, Program in Pharmacogenomics, College of Medicine, at The Ohio State University, Columbus. He also holds appointments in Pharmacy, Medical Genetics, and Psychiatry, and is member of the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute and the OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has received a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the FU Berlin in 1968, and has served on the pharmacy faculties of USC and UCSF until 2002. Dr. Sadée’s research focuses on pharmacogenomics relevant to various diseases, drug discovery, and drug addiction, with over 300 research papers and monographs. He has served as founding editor of Pharmaceutical Research and The AAPS Journal, and has received the AAPS Distinguished Scientist Award.

R. Clark Lantz

R. Clark Lantz, PhD, is Professor and Associate Head of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. He is also the Deputy Director of the Southwest Environmental Health Science Center, an NIEHS funded Center of Excellence. Dr. Lantz’s research interests are in the chronic effects of low dose environmental exposures on the lung. Recent results from Dr. Lantz’s research has indicated that arsenic exposure at environmental levels can alter airway epithelial cell repair processes. Dr. Lantz is currently the Principal Investigator on an EPA grant which is determining alterations in airway epithelial cell proteins following arsenic exposure. He is also currently investigating the effect of in utero and early postnatal exposures to arsenic on lung structure and function.

Colin Ockleford

Colin Ockleford is Professor of Anatomy at the Lancaster University School of Health and Medicine and a visiting Professor at the University of Leicester where he is Director of the Laboratory for Developmental Cell Sciences. He was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists in recognition of his work on the human maternofetal interaction and in particular the morphogenesis of the chorionic villus tree and receptor mediated transepithelial transport of antibodies. He has focussed studies on the role of the trophoblastic and amniotic epithelia in implantation, placentation and parturition. Most recently he has published on the hypertensive disease of pregnancy pre-eclampsia and the invasive properties and blood borne deportation of trophoblast and has researched the signalling systems regulating these activities as part of the EMBIC consortium. A winner of the Symington Prize and the Stevenson Award he has served on a variety of editorial boards including Journal of Anatomy, Placenta and the European Journal of Morphology. He chairs the Department of Medicine Research Committee at Lancaster University, is on the Medical and Toxicological Panel of the Pesticides Safety Directorate and a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Pesticides of the Department of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs.

Naoki Mori

Dr. Mori is a professor of Division of Molecular Virology and Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, at University of the Ryukyus. He also serves on the editorial board of Retrovirology. Dr Mori has been working on inflammation induced by human T-cell leukemia virus type 1, dengue virus, Helicobacter pylori, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Legionella pneumophila in gastric, bronchial, lung, thyroid, synovial, and hepatic epithelial cells. His current research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of host cell signal transduction and subsequent activation of epithelial cells by pathogens and their virulence factors. Recently, he develops new therapeutic strategies by which targeted inhibition of selected signaling pathway components.

Samuel C. Mok

Dr. Mok is a professor of the Department of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr Mok has been working on projects related to the delineation of molecular pathways in the development of different histological types of epithelial ovarian tumors. He served as the principle investigators on multiple NIH funded projects. His current research focuses on roles of stromal cells in the initiation and progression of epithelial ovarian tumors.

Sergei Orlovb

Dr. Orlov is professor of Medicine at University of Montreal, Canada and professor of Biophysics at Moscow State University, Russia. He also serves as Head of Laboratory of Pathophysiology of Ion Transport Disorders at University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre and a Head of Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Biomembranes, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University. His research is focus on the mechanism of ion transport across plasma membrane and its role in cell volume regulation, proliferation and death.

Masaomi Nangaku

Masaomi Nangaku, male, nephrologist, graduated from the University of Tokyo School of Medicine in 1988. He worked for the division of nephrology and endocrinology, the University of Tokyo School of Medicine since. He worked at University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, U.S.A. as a visiting scientist from 1994 to 1996 and served as a visiting professor at University of Florida, Gainesville, U.S.A. in 2005. He has been working on immune mediated glomerular and tubular epithelial injury, and chronic hypoxia resulting in renal tubular epithelial and interstitial injury as a final common pathway t o end stage renal disease. He got the Young Investigator Award of the Japanese Society of Nephrology in 2002, has published more than 140 papers, and gave 20 invited talks at international scientific meetings. He has also been a member of Scientific Program Committee of World Congress of Nephrology since 2005. His past and current editorial responsibilities include Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Chinese Medical Journal, Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation, Nephron Experimental Nephrology, Clinical and Experimental Nephrology, and Recent Patent Reviews on Cardiovascular Drug Discovery.

Will Minuth

Dr. Will Minuth is a professor of Anatomy at the University of Regensburg in Germany. He is teaching medical students in Gross Anatomy, Histology and Neuroanatomy. The research interest is related to the field of renal epithelial barrier function including the action of steroidal hormones. The driving force in his experimental work is the unsolved question, if stem/progenitor cells can be applied in future to treat acute or chronic renal failure. For that reason the actual research of Dr. Minuth is focusing to renal stem/progenitor cells developing into a functional epithelium under the tubulogenic action of aldosterone. Sophisticated perfusion culture including an artificial interstitium plays an essential role in this hot spot of research.

Fátima Martel

Dr. Martel is a full professor of Medicine at Porto University. She has been working on the transmembranar transport of organic compounds (organic cations, folate, thiamine, glucose, serotonin, butyrate, MPP⁺) at the epithelial level. Most of her work has been conducted at the intestinal and placental level, but transport at other epithelia (blood-brain barrier, liver) have also been performed. Her current research focuses on potential interaction of drugs and epithelial transport of organic compounds, on the effect of some particular pathologies on the transport characteristics, and on the relation between transport of a substance and its biological activity.

Mustafa F. Lokhandwala

Dr. Lokhandwala received his Ph.D. Degree from the University of Houston and was appointed Assistant Professor of Pharmacology in the College of Pharmacy at University of Houston. He subsequently was promoted to Associate Professor and Professor at the same institution. Dr. Lokhandwala also served as Chair of the Department of Pharmacology from 1980-1991 and Dean of the College of Pharmacy from 1991-2002. He currently serves as Executive Vice-Dean for Research and Professor of Pharmacology in the College of Pharmacy.

He is studying the mechanisms by which oxidative stress causes renal dopamine receptor G-protein uncoupling in hypertension, aging and diabetes and examining approaches to reverse and/or prevent these changes in order to restore receptor G-protein coupling and drug responsiveness leading to the maintenance of sodium homeostasis and blood pressure.

He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Clinical and Experimental Hypertension and serves on editorial boards of several journals, and has been a recipient of several awards. He has published over 200 scientific papers and his research is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Emiko Mizoguchi

Dr. Mizoguchi is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Assistant Immunologist, Gastrointestinal Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. She also serves as a center investigator at an NIH funded Center for the Study of Inflammatory Disease, one of twelve centers in the United States that serve to support and coordinate research among the laboratories within the Harvard Medical School Community. Dr. Mizoguchi’s major research interest is to identify the biological function of colonic epithelial cells under normal and inflammatory conditions. She serves as the Principal Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, advisor of animal models of colitis and a member of scientific advisory committee for pharmaceutical companies and research institutes in the United States. Her current research focuses on the functional role of tumor necrosis factor receptors type-I and type-II in innate and acquired immune responses and host-microbial interaction via mammalian chitinases (e.g., chitinase 3-like-1/YKL-40) under inflammatory conditions.

Jean-François Beaulieu

Jean-François Beaulieu is a professor of Cell Biology and the director of the Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology at the Université de Sherbrooke. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Intestinal Physiopathology. He is also the leader of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Team on the Digestive Epithelium. Professor Beaulieu has been working on the mechanisms that regulate gene expression in the human epithelial cells of the developing gut and adult intestine under normal and pathological conditions (chronic inflammation, colorectal cancer, etc.). He has contributed to the characterization and/or establishment of several human intestinal epithelial cell models. His current research focuses on epithelial cell-extracellular matrix interactions in the intestine and the roles that these macromolecules exert through specific membrane receptors on the regulation of epithelial cell functions.

Suzana B. Veríssimo de Mello

Dr. Suzana Beatriz Veríssimo de Mello, biologist born in São Paulo, SP, Brazil is Associate professor at Rheumatology Division of Internal Medicine Department of Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Dr. Mello has been working on the participation of free radicals in the articular damage particularly with synovial fluids of arthritic patient and with animal models. Her current research focuses on synovial fluid of children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and evaluating H2S production. Actually they are also studying the leukocyte function (chemotaxis and superoxide formation) in cells collected from Behcet syndrome patients, as well as its correlation with CD14 and TLr, as well as the influence of LTA in this process.

Klaus Pantel

Prof. Pantel (M.D./Ph.D.) graduated in 1986 from Cologne University in Germany and completed his thesis on mathematical modelling of hematopoiesis in 1987. Prof. Pantel is currently the Chairman of the Institute of Tumour Biology at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), University of Hamburg, Germany. He is Deputy Director of the Center of Experimental Medicine at UKE that comprises 15 biomedical institutes with access to patient samples through much clinical collaboration. Prof. Pantel is on the Editorial Board of several international cancer journals and coordinates the Consortium “Disseminated Malignancies DISMAL” funded by the European Commission. Over the past 15 years, he has organized 5 international symposia on minimal residual cancer in Europe/USA, received several awards and published more than 150 original papers on the detection, characterization and clinical relevance of micrometastatic disease.

Edward A. Ratovitski

Dr. Ratovitski is an associate professor of dermatology, otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, oncology and pharmacology/molecular sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He serves as an Associate Director of Head and Neck Cancer Research Division. Dr. Ratovitski has been working on the role of protein-protein interactions in cancer, epithelial/mesenchymal transition, and epithelial developmental disorders. His current research focuses on p63 function in epithelial cancers and developmental disorders that carry p63 mutations, and on search of potential agents
(inhibitory RNA, small inhibitory molecules) that would affect p63 pathological manifestations at the RNA processing level.

Fernando Navarro-Garcia

Dr. Navarro-Garcia is a Professor and Chairman of Cell Biology Department at the Center for Research and Advance Studies of National Polytechnic Institute (CINVESTAV-IPN) Mexico. He is member of the Mexican Academy of Science and the National System of Researchers and Advisor at the Academic Consulting Board for CINVESTAV-IPN. He is also reviewer of scientific proposals for National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), Mexico and Science and Technology Fund (FONCYT), Argentina. Dr. Navarro-Garcia has been working on the roles of gut epithelial barrier function in bacterial and protozoa infections (pathogenesis and mucosal immunity). He is a specialist in interaction epithelial cell-enteropathogen, with emphasis in epithelial membrane receptors, cytoskeleton, intracellular trafficking of bacterial effectors, mucosal antibodies, cytokines and cells from the immune system.

Weihong Pan

Dr. Pan is a professor in Neuroscience in Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System. She is the associate editor for the journal Peptides, and editorial board member for Current Pharmaceutical Design; Clinical Medicine: Endocrinology and Diabetes; and Journal of Epithelial Biology & Pharmacology. She is also a staff neurologist at the Ochsner Clinic.

Dr. Pan's research focuses on the transport of peptides and cytokines across the blood-brain barrier. Her area of expertise includes endothelial trafficking, neuroinflammation, neurotrauma, hypoxia, and CNS drug delivery. Dr. Pan serves as a reviewer for various NIH study sections and over 40 international journals. She is one of the most productive researchers in the blood-brain barrier field.

John P. Lydon

Dr. John P. Lydon is an associate professor at the department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. Dr. Lydon’s research focuses on the delineation of normal and abnormal cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie mammary and uterine epithelial responses to steroid hormone exposure. Using state-of-the-art mouse genetics, Dr. Lydon’s group has been instrumental in dissecting progesterone receptor and coregulator control of mammary and endometrial epithelial morphogenesis and tumorigenesis. Apart from an academic educator and researcher, Dr. Lydon serves on the editorial board of Endocrinology and is an active reviewer for federal and private research grant funding authorities.

Jacques Eduardo Nor

Dr. Nör is a Professor of Dentistry and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He also serves as a member of the Developmental Therapeutics study section at the NIH. Dr. Nör has been working on head and neck tumor angiogenesis. He served as the principle investigator for NIH grants and is in the editorial board of several journals. His current research focuses on the crosstalks between endothelial cells and squamous cell carcinoma cells in head and neck cancer.

Jing-Lin Xia

Dr. Xia is a professor of Hepatic Oncology at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University. Dr Xia has been working on roles of HGF ameliorates hepatic biliary fibrosis in part by blocking bile duct epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). His current research focuses on study of tumor angiogenesis and anti-angiogenesis therapy. He also focuses on study the value of TACE on liver cancer.

Keith R. McCrae

Dr. Keith McCrae is a Professor of Medicine and Pathology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. His areas of interest include endothelial cell biology and angiogenesis, as well as vascular inflammatory disorders, thrombosis and hemostasis, and platelet disorders. He has served on several NIH study sections, and is also a member of the editorial boards of BLOOD and Thrombosis Research. He is also served on advisory boards for organizations developing new thrombopoietic agents and therapies for rare bleeding disorders. Dr McCrae also cares for patients with a variety of hematologic diseases, particularly thrombocytopenias, bleeding and clotting disorders.

Friedrich Paulsen

Dr. Paulsen is a professor of Anatomy at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, member of the faculty council, corresponding member of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, honorary member of the Romanian Anatomical Society and secretary of the German Anatomical Society. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Anatomy and serves as chairmen of a professional development center for Clinical Anatomy at MLU Halle. Dr. Paulsen first worked as medical doctor in otorhinolaryngology and then became anatomist. He has been studying already at Christian Albrecht University of Kiel on roles of peptides and proteins in innate immunity at the ocular surface and lacrimal apparatus, articular joints and upper aerodigestive tract including the larynx, corneal wound healing, dry eye syndrome, corneal and conjunctival epithelial cells in pathogenesis of inflammation, organ dysfunction and stem cells. He served as the principle scientist and global advisor of scientific advisory boards for national and international research organizations and pharmaceutical companies. His current research focuses on roles of mucins, antimicrobial peptides, TFF peptides and surfactant proteins in development of organ dysfunction and potential interaction between drugs and epithelial cells.

Harshad A. Navsaria

Harshad A. Navsaria a Professor in Cell and Tissue Engineering at the Centre for Cutaneous Research, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London. He has been working in the field of keratinocyte biology and tissue engineering for the past 21 years.

Prof Navsaria is a member of the European Tissue Culture Society, founder member of the European Tissue Engineering Society, the British Burns Association, the British Society of Investigative Dermatology, the European Society of Dermatological Research, the European Tissue Repair Society, and the Tissue Engineering Society (USA). He has served as a consultant to Fidia Advanced Biopolymers (Italy), Steifel (UK) and Convatec (UK & USA). Prof Navsaria also serves as a consultant to St. Andrew’s Burns Centre, Broomfield Hospital to direct and supervise research activities including clinical application of tissue engineered skin for burn patients. He has served as a board member on the scientific advisory committee for Purdue University, USA on tissue engineering.

Recently he was invited by the British Ambassador to Paraguay and Dominican Republic to give a series of lectures on advances in science for improved burn treatment and is assisting with the establishment of a skin bank. Within the School he is the Academic Dean and chairs the School Board.

Prof Navsaria publishes articles in peer reviewed journals detailing his research in the field of keratinocyte biology including reviews and book chapters.

Rama Mallampalli

Dr. Mallampalli is Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at the University of Iowa. He serves on several editorial boards and peer review panels within the NIH. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His laboratory is supported by several granting mechanisms from the NIH and Veteran’s Administration. His research program investigates the biochemical and molecular basis for phosphatidylcholine deficiencies observed in acute and chronic lung disorders and focuses on type II alveolar lung epithelium. His current research activities focus on the regulatory mechanisms for lipid transporters and lipogenic enzymes involved in surfactant phospholipid metabolism.

Laurent Misery

Prof. Laurent Misery is professor of Dermatology at the University of Western Brittany in Brest. He is head of department of dermatology and director of laboratory of skin neurobiology. Pr Misery has worked on Langerhans cells and their precursors and mucosal immunity against HIV. He serves as advisor for pharmaceutical or cosmetological companies and research organizations. His current research focuses on skin neurobiology, itch and Merkel cells.

Rudolf Lucas

Having obtained his PhD in cellular and genetic biotechnology at the university of Brussels, Belgium, Dr. Lucas became chief assistant in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Surgical Intensive Care at the University medical Center in Geneva, Switzerland. Subsequently he was a senior visiting scientist in the Dept. of Biological Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute for Science in Israel and a vice chair in the department of Biochemical Pharmacology at the university of Konstanz, Germany. Dr. Lucas is currently an associate professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Vascular Biology Center of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. He was recently elected chair of the “Molecular pathology and functional genomics” scientific group of the European Respiratory Society. Over the past 15 years, Dr. Lucas has been investigating the role of the pro-inflammatory cytokines in ARDS and permeability edema. His current research focuses on the regulation of alveolar epithelial sodium channels by Tumor Necrosis Factor and has resulted in the identification of a novel domain of the cytokine, i.e. the lectin-like domain, which is spatially distinct from the receptor binding sites, and which is implicated in the activation of pulmonary edema reabsorption.

Baharia Mograbi

Baharia Mograbi has a permanent position as senior research scientist (CR1) at INSERM since 2003. She is scientific advisor board for Nice hospital Biobank, pharmaceutical companies, and research organizations. During her graduate work, she studied the expression of EGF family ligands by activated macrophages. After obtaining her PhD, She joined Giovanni Romeo Laboratory at Gaslini Institute in Genoa, Italy to delineate the GDNF/Ret RTK survival-signalling pathway. In the 2000s, B Mograbi and al. unravelled how a gain-of-function mutation Ret mutation can be associated with both cancer (multiple endocrine neoplasia) and a developmental defect (Hirschsprung disease). Back to France at the faculty of Medical School at Nice-Sophia Antipolis University, she quickly moved on to explore the molecular control of the autophagy pathway, an catabolic pathway involved in a growing list of diseases ranging from neurodegenerative disease, infections and cancers. In particular she focussed on the deregulation of this tumour suppressor pathway by environmental carcinogens and oncogenes, a field that still holds her attention.

Claire M. Payne

Dr. Payne is a research professor in the Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy at the University of Arizona, a member of the Arizona Cancer Center, a visiting research scientist at the Southern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care System and President of Biomedical Diagnostics & Research, Inc. in Tucson. Dr. Payne has published in the areas of viral gastroenteritis, glomerulonephritis, neuroendocrine cytochemistry, esophagitis, colitis, colon carcinogenesis, field cancerization/field defects, ultrastructural diagnosis of human disease and cell death mechanisms. Her current research focuses on the induction of oxidative/nitrosative stresses and genomic instability in colonic epithelial cells by hydrophobic bile acids.

José M. López-Novoa

Dr. Lopez- Novoa is a Full Professor of Physiology at Faculty of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Spain, and Director of the Renal and Cardiovascular Physiopathology Unit, Institute “Queen Sophie” for Renal Research since 1990. Previously, he has been Associate Research Scientist in the Nephrology department of Jimenez Diaz Foundation, in Madrid, Spain, and as Professor of Research in the Spanish High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). Dr Lopez-Novoa has been working on epithelial transport in the kidney in hepatic cirrhosis and during acute renal failure. He serves as member of the Scientific and Medical Board (SMAB) of the International HHT Foundation, the Executive committee of the Institute “Queen Sophie” for Renal Research. He is a member of the Editorial Board of several Journals, including Nephrology Dialysis and transplantation (the official journal of the European Society of Nephrology), Nephrología (the official journal of the Spanish Society of Nephrology), and Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry. His current research in the area of epithelial cells focuses on the mechanisms of tubular epithelial cell necrosis in response to drugs and heavy metals, as well s the mechanisms of prevention, as well as the mechanisms of acute pancreatitis.

James Mullin

Dr. Jim Mullin is a Professor at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research and Director of Research in the Division of Gastroenterology of Lankenau Hospital, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. After completing graduate study in physiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, he performed postdoctoral work at the Dept. of Human Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, and the Wistar Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. He is adjunct Professor of Biology at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, currently serving as the liaison for graduate studies in Biology between Lankenau and Saint Joseph’s. He also serves on the Graduate Medical Education Committee of Lankenau Hospital and has recently been a member of the NIH/NCI study panel for Applications of Emerging Technologies for Cancer Research. Dr. Mullin’s research focuses on epithelial barrier function, alteration of transepithelial permeability by pharmacological agents and diseases, paracellular transport through the epithelial tight junction, and regulation of tight junction permeability by protein kinase C. Dr. Mullin holds a US Patent on the screening for Barrett’s esophagus by transepithelial leak, and is the author of several reviews on tight junction permeability and its alteration in disease.

Sabrina Mattoli

Dr. Mattoli holds a Specialty Diploma in Pulmonary Medicine and has spent more than 15 years in specialty practice. She also has an extensive experience in lung molecular biology, pharmacology and drug development, based on previous work in academic research institutions and in the pharmaceutical industry. As co-founder and Scientific Director of the Avail Biomedical Research Institute (Basel, Switzerland), her research interests in the last 9 years have focused on the role of intrinsic defects of the airway epithelial barrier in the pathogenesis of pulmonary diseases resulting from the interaction between susceptibility genes and environmental factors, and on the evaluation of the potential role of bone marrow-derived progenitors in airway tissue repair.

Theodor Petrov

Dr. Petrov, MD, PHD is an Associate Professor at the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, the School of Medicine, Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Previously he worked at the School of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France. During the past decade he has served as a reviewer for numerous renowned scientific journals. He developed therapeutic interventions, such as in vivo application of antisense oligonucleotides which attenuate expression of genes in endothelial cells (the cells that form the vascular wall). The protein products of these genes participate in cascades of events that lead to abnormal perfusion and cell injury. This is established by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which allows assessment of brain perfusion in the entire brain. His current interests are related to the expression of endothelial receptors which may mediate intracellular events that are deleterious to cell survival involving disturbed mitochondrial metabolism and generation of free radicals.

Véronique Moulin

Dr. Moulin is adjunct professor at the surgery department of the faculty of medicine at Laval University. She is researcher at the LOEX at the Centre hospitalier affilié universitaire de Québec. Her work is dedicated to the comprehension of wound healing and fibrosis phenomena using several study models such as tissue engineered skins and animal models. Her most recent achievements comprise the production using tissue engineering techniques of a reconstructed skin model for wound healing studies, functional studies of wound dermal cells, the myofibroblasts and evidence of the importance of interactions between keratinocytes, the epithelial cells of the skin, and dermal cells during fibrosis.

Heiko Mühl

Dr. Mühl is groupleader and principal investigator at the pharmazentrum frankfurt, University Hospital Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main. The biochemist /pharmacologist has been working on mechanisms that initiate and control inflammatory processes with special focus on the immunopharmacology of cytokine biology and nitric oxide. Current research concentrates on the epithelial cell compartment as active component of innate immunity. Particularly, interactions between leukocytes and epithelial cells are being investigated in the context of Th1/Th17 cytokine responses, inflammation, and carcinogenesis.

Hannes Lohi

Dr. Lohi is a professor of molecular genetics at the University of Helsinki in the Departments of Medical Genetics and Basic Veterinary Sciences. He is also a group leader in the Folkhälsan Institute of Genetics. Dr. Lohi has been working with several human genetic diseases and related genes. He was discovering several new members in the SLC26 family of anion exchangers, which have important epithelial transport functions in different parts of the body. Several members of the gene family have been associated with different type of genetic diseases in human. Dr Lohi has also worked with genetic and functional aspects of mismatch repair in colorectal cancer and has several publications on human neurogenetics. His current research focuses on canine inherited diseases as models for human genetic diseases. He has established a large Dog DNA bank in Finland and maps new disease in for many disease phenotypes including several epithelial disorders of various organs and cancers.

Ivan Robert Nabi

Dr. Nabi is a Professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences at the University of British Columbia. He has worked in the fields of cancer metastasis, epithelial polarity and protein trafficking. Research in his lab currently focuses on the cell biology of cancer focusing on mechanisms underlying motility and metastasis of epithelial-derived cancer cells. Dr. Nabi works actively on raft-dependent endocytosis, endoplasmic reticulum domains, cell surface domain regulation of receptor activation and dynamics, and the proteome and local signaling events that drive formation of tumor cell protrusions.

Angela Panoskaltsis-Mortari

Dr. Panoskaltsis-Mortari received her PhD from the University of Western Ontario. She was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Pathology at the University of Alabama and a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. She joined the University of Minnesota faculty in 1995.

Panoskaltsis-Mortari has board certification from the American Board of Medical Laboratory Immunology. She is a member of numerous immunology, pulmonary and hematology professional societies, and the author of nearly 120 articles which have appeared in such publications as Journal of Experimental Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Blood, Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, American Journal of Physiology (Lung, Cell. & Mol. Physiol.) and Journal of Immunology.

G.J. Peters

Professor Godefridus (Frits) J. Peters is head of the Laboratory of the department of Medical Oncology of the VU University Medical Center (VUmc) in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). He studied biology and chemistry at the University of Nijmegen, obtained his master’s degree in biochemistry in 1977 and his Ph.D. in 1982 on the relation between inborn errors and immunodeficiency diseases. He did a post-doc at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, and subsequently at the Free University Hospital in Amsterdam. In 1986 he received a senior research fellowship of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 1989 he was appointed as head of the division of Biochemical Pharmacology, in 1998 as head of the division of Pharmacology and deputy-head of the laboratory and in 2003 as head of the Laboratory of the Department of Medical Oncology. He was appointed as associate-professor in 1992 and as full professor in 2003.

Venkat Keshamouni
Dr. Keshamouni is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Michigan, USA. Dr. Keshamouni's interests are investigating mechanisms of metastasis and novel therapeutic approaches for lung cancer. He is currently focused on investigating Interactions between tumor cells, tumor associated macrophages and fibroblasts in lung tumor Microenvironment, and Epithelial-mesenchymal transitions, by utilizing cell culture, animal models and systems biology approaches. Dr. Keshamouni serves on study sections of various foundations that support cancer research, and as a manuscript reviewer for a number of other international journals. He is currently editing a book titled "Lung Cancer Metastasis: Novel Biological Principles and Their Implications for Clinical Practice".


Fiona McDonald
Dr Fiona McDonald is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physiology at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Her research is focused on the epithelial sodium channel and its interactions with other proteins. This has lead to research in the control of ion channels by trafficking and the ubiquitin pathway.


Bertil Lindmark
In his role as Global Vice President, Clinical in AstraZeneca for the Respiratory & Inflammation Therapy Area Bertil Lindmark is responsible for Clinical and Strategic support to the therapy area, management of clinical programmes in drug development, driving in-licensing disease area, and clinical strategies.

Bertil Lindmark joined Astra in 1991 after 10 years in Clinical Medicine. His research interests are molecular epidemiology with focus on protease inhibitors. Bertil Lindmark has held a number of management positions in Astra and in AstraZeneca including Drug Safety, Clinical Science, and Therapy Area Medical Director.

Y. Marunaka
Dr. Marunaka is a professor and chairperson, Departments of Molecular Cell Physiology and Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan. He also serves as Director, Center for Medical Education and Research at the university. He is an Editor, Journal of Physiological Sciences, and an Editorial Board Member, Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. He was also an Editorial Review Board Member, American Journal of Physiology Renal Physiology, and a member, Program Committee Member, American Thoracic Society. He obtained an MD degree (1979) and a PhD degree (1985) from Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. He was an Instructor, Department of Physiology, Shiga University Medical Science, a Research Associate, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, an Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Emory University School of Medicine, and an Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto and a Senior Scientist, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto). He is a chairperson, the 86th Annual Meeting, Physiological Society of Japan held in Kyoto (2009). His current research focuses on regulation of epithelial ion transport, epithelial cell growth, and roles of chloride ions in cell function including cell growth, neurite elongation etc.